Into the Past
by Goldenrod
Summary: Kit gets sent back to the time of the Toa Metru.
1. Memories Lost

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle or the movie this is based off of, only Kit and Darcius.

* * *

It was early evening on the island of Mata Nui. Toa Pohatu was escorting Gali and Kit back to Ga-Koro, questions running through their minds. Earlier, Turaga Vakama announced that he was going to share a tale with the Toa the next day, a tale that had something to do with the mysterious island that they discovered about a week ago. "What exactly do you guys think Vakama's story's going to be about?" asked Kit.

"Your guess is as good as ours, Kit," chuckled Pohatu, noticing the girl's excitement. Finally, with the village of water in sight, Gali and Kit waved good-bye to the Toa of Stone.

* * *

Weird. That was all Kit could think of to describe her surroundings. Everywhere she looked, there was mist and everything was in a grayish shade, even herself. It felt as if she had found herself in a negative photograph. Instinctively, she started walking, the mist swirling and parting as she walked through it. 'What is this place?' she asked in her head. Then, suddenly, a voice called her name. Startled, she froze and whirled around, seeking whoever it was that spoke. A light blue glow caught her eye and she ran toward it as the voice continued to call to her. As she got closer, she began to recognize some humanoid features in the glow. Finally, she reached it and found a familiar woman clothed in a flowing dress and the lower half of her face hidden by a transparent veil. "Tehreisha?" she asked.

"You must hurry, Kit," the Gate Guardian said urgently. "The fate of this realm rests on your shoulders."

"What's happening? What's wrong?"

"It's Darcius. He's at it again."

"What's he planning now?"

Instead of answering the question, Tehreisha said, "Time is of the essence," and began to drift away into the distance. "Hurry, Kit, and may the power protect you."

"No, wait!" Kit cried as she tried to catch up to her. "Tehreisha, come back! What's Darcius up to?" But, Tehreisha's glow disappeared into the mist, leaving a confused Kit behind. A brief moment passed as the girl stared off into space when she suddenly had a realization that hit her like a ton of bricks.

* * *

Bolting up into a sitting position, Kit found herself breathing hard, as if she just ran a marathon. Seeing that she was in her hut, she calmed down. "What a weird dream," she sighed as she placed a hand to her head. Then, something clicked in her mind. "No, it wasn't a dream. It was a message—from Tehreisha." Immediately, she got out of bed, got her shoes on, and was heading for the door, only to remember she almost forgot something. She slipped on her crystal and ran outside, hoping to find Gali. Macku was tending to her canoe when she heard someone call to her. Turning around, she found Kit running toward her.

"Hello, Kit," she greeted.

"Macku, do you know where Gali went?" the girl asked.

"She was heading that way up the beach," the Ga-Matoran pointed. "Why?"

"I have to find her," Kit replied. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure," Macku nodded.

"Row to Po-Koro as fast as you can," said Kit, "and tell Toa Pohatu to gather up the other Toa and meet Gali and me by those rocks."

She pointed to a jagged rock formation farther up north.

"Is something wrong?" asked the Matoran.

"I'm afraid so," answered Kit, and she took off.

* * *

On the beach, surrounded by huge jagged rocks, Darcius held his hand out in front of him and concentrated. Despite his power, what he was attempting to do was still pretty tricky. Soon, sparks began to fly from his hand and converge in mid-air, as if hitting a target. Concentrating harder, more sparks appeared faster and faster. He had almost accomplished his task when twin jets of water slammed him against one of the rocks. Coughing and sopping wet, he lifted his head to find Toa Gali and Kit, in her Toa armor suit, ready for battle. "Sorry, girls, but I'm not in the mood to play with you right now," he snarled and let loose his purple energy bolts.

Kit and Gali, expecting this, dodged. "Well, that's just too bad, Darcius," said Kit, "because I'm afraid we're going to have to insist."

Then, she launched an energy ball, which Darcius slapped away. However, it was still powerful enough to skid him away a few feet. 'She's obviously been practicing,' he said to himself, realizing that her powers were not quite that strong the last time they fought.

"You will leave now, Darcius," commanded Gali.

"And if I don't?" Darcius challenged with a slight smirk. Whatever in this world made the female think she could tell him what to do?

"We'll make you," a voice answered.

The three looked up to find Tahu and the other Toa, including Takanuva, standing atop a nearby cliff. As a unit, they flipped down and joined in. "And, it will not be pretty on your part," Onua added.

Darcius leered at the new Toa of Light, "I see you've done some growing since we last met."

"I've been through some interesting changes," replied Takanuva, remembering all too well how Darcius tried to kill him.

"We don't know what you're doing here, Darcius," said Kit, "but it's not going to happen."

Darcius simply grinned. "Foolish child, you haven't even begun to comprehend my plan. Before you and your friends know it, this world and everything in it will be warped beyond recognition."

"Watch it!" Kopaka cried, but his warning came too late.

Darcius spread out his arms and unleashed his energy bolts, stunning Kit and the Toa. Then, he quickly resumed what he came for. He concentrated and sparks began to fly from his hand like before. He then became aware of something happening, and he found himself under attack by the Toa. Despite this, he continued what he was doing; he could feel it, he was so close. Because all of his focus had to be on his task, he dared not fight back. Suddenly, a strange warp appeared before him. 'Finally,' he thought to himself, only to feel a heavy pain in his side. Clutching it, he turned to find Kit with energy glowing from her hand. The girl then released an energy beam, but Darcius leaped into the warp to dodge it.

"You're not getting away that easy," Kit declared, and she took off after him.

"Kit, no!" Tahu protested, but she was swallowed up into the shrinking warp, which disappeared right after her.

The Toa tried to make sense of what happened when they heard a voice call to them. It was Turaga Vakama. "What happened?" the Turaga of Ta-Koro asked.

"It's Kit," said Tahu, "she's gone."

The Toa then explained what had happened, although, if they were expecting Vakama to tell them of a way to bring the girl back or follow her, they were disappointed when he simply said, "Go back to your villages for now, Toa."

"But, what about Kit?" asked Lewa.

"I've got a feeling that she'll be fine," the Turaga assured them, although they were not quite sure how reassured they felt.

* * *

Cold. She felt so cold she was shivering like crazy. Slight convulsions accompanied the shivering. Frost covered her now faintly white skin and was even in her hair and clothes. Her eyes were open, but she didn't seem aware of what was going on around her. In fact, her eyes appeared to be glazed over. Kit pressed her hands against her head, as if she was holding onto it for dear life, and gasping sounds occasionally escaped from her mouth. Then, suddenly, she became aware of voices.

"What is it?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's in shock, give it room."

Then, she began to make out six blurry figures that were gathered around her, one of which knelt down beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Vakama, do you think you can use just enough of your power to warm it up a bit?" the figure asked.

"I'll try," someone replied, and another figure approached her.

It took a firm, yet gentle hold of her upper arms and Kit could feel a warmth spreading from its hands throughout her body. The sudden change in temperature caused her to let out a little gasp, but she soon relaxed; it felt so good and she felt much better. Finally, her senses returned to normal and she sat up, only to look into the red-colored face of something that looked like a robot. She just managed to fight down the urge to back away from it before she caught herself, but her halted action didn't go unnoticed. "It's alright," the robot, whom she suspected was the one referred to as Vakama. "We're not going to hurt you."

'We?' Kit thought and looked over his shoulder.

There, there were four more robots, one brown, one green, one white, and one black. As they all stared at her, she realized that they were not exactly robots for she could see some patches of what appeared to be organic tissue. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she looked to her right to find yet another one of them, a blue one. Although, it seemed built differently from the others. 'A female?' Kit wondered.

"Are you alright?" it asked.

"I think so," Kit replied, only to hear surprised gasps from the others and cause Vakama and the blue one to snap their hands back.

"It can speak-talk?" the green one blurted out.

"Of course I can talk," snapped Kit as she gave him a slight glare.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to offend you," the black one apologized.

After accepting his apology, she asked, "Who are you? What are you? And where am I?"

"My name's Nokama," the blue one introduced and pointed at the others. "Those are Vakama, Matau, Onewa, Nuju, and Whenua. We are Toa and you're on Metru Nui."

Kit's mind paused for minute; something about those names sounded familiar, as if she had heard them before.

A question from Onewa, however, brought her back to reality. "You gotta name, kid?" asked the Toa of Stone.

"Kit," the girl replied, "and I'm a 'she', not an 'it'."

"Gotcha," Matau confirmed.

"Where're you from, Kit?" asked Whenua with a curious gleam in his eyes. Kit paused, her mind suddenly going blank. For some reason, the name of her place of origin was lost to her. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't bring it up.

"I—I can't remember," she frowned. While the Toa couldn't help but look on with sympathy, Kit asked, "How did I get here?"

"You appeared in a flash of light," answered Vakama.

"Maybe all you need is time," Whenua suggested about the girl's memory, then he turned to Vakama. "Mask-maker, you saw Toa Lhikan last, right?" The Toa Metru of Fire confirmed with a nod of his head.

"What did he say we could expect?" asked Nuju.

"He told me to stop the darkness. That I had to save the heart of Metru Nui," he replied. "Then the Dark Hunters took him away. It was because of me."

'Toa Lhikan? Dark Hunters?' Kit wondered, but before she could ask anyone anything, the Toa of Fire suddenly stiffened up, then he looked like he had seen a ghost. It was as if he was reacting to something they weren't seeing.

Then, all of a sudden, he twisted and turned his body, jumped and ducked like crazy. Finally, he looked as if he had snapped out of whatever was happening. "What's with him?" she asked, but everyone was as clueless as she was.

"All of that smelting must've cooked his head," Onewa suggested.

"I saw it," Vakama said breathlessly and fearfully. "Metru Nui was destroyed! The Great Kanoka disks were heading right for me."

Kit turned to Nuju and Whenua, but both either shrugged or shook their heads. "Thanks for dream-sharing, Vakama," Matau 'thanked'.

"Well," Whenua stepped up, "according to ancient legend, one Great Disk is hidden in each metru."

"And finding them would prove to Turaga Dume that we are worthy Toa," added Vakama.

Onewa, however, couldn't believe it, "So, we go on a scavenger hunt because a fire-spitter stood too long in front of his forge?"

"Visions can be a sign of madness, yes," said Nokama, "or messages from the Great Spirit. But, as Toa, we cannot afford to ignore them." Everyone had to agree with that, including Kit. A plan was then formed that each of the Toa would retrieve the Great Disk native to their own metru, meet the others back at the temple, and they would present both themselves and the disks to Turaga Dume.

Little did any of them know that they were being watched by a hawk-like creature called Nivawk, and he saw and heard everything. Deciding that now would be a good time to leave before he was spotted, he took off without a sound. Meanwhile, the Toa were discussing how to go about finding the Great Disks. "Where do we even start looking?" asked Nuju.

"Hey, guys, over here," Kit called from the Toa Suva. The Toa gathered to see what she found. It appeared to be a map of some kind. "And, there's writing here," the girl pointed to some Matoran letters, "but I can't make it out."

Nokama peered at the writing and translated. "It says here the Great Disks will be found by seeking the unfamiliar within the familiar. The rest seem to be riddles about the locations of the disks." Once the Toa of Water read off the riddles, she turned to Kit. "Kit, I think it's best that you stay here until we get back."

"No problem," the girl shrugged.

"And, be sure to stay out of sight," Onewa added. "Don't let anyone see you."

"Why?"

"One word—Vahki," Whenua answered.

Seeing that the word meant nothing to her, the Toa explained that the Vahki were the order enforcers of Metru Nui. If she were spotted by a Matoran, they would most likely run to the nearest Vahki, who would capture her, and take her to the Archives in Onu-Metru, where, Whenua pointed out, she would be placed in a containment tube and placed into stasis, turned into a living, but asleep, specimen. "Point taken," Kit said with a slight shudder, not at all liking the idea of being asleep forever just to be stared at by the citizens of the city.

"We'll be back as quick as we can," Nokama assured her. Finally, with a better idea on where to look, the Toa departed, leaving Kit to find a seat. For a brief moment, she had a vague feeling that she heard the words Matoran, Toa, Turaga, and Great Spirit before, but she couldn't place them. With a shrug, she got comfortable and waited.

* * *

The hours passed, and Nokama surfaced from the water, admiring the Ga-Metru Great Disk in her hand. She almost became somebody's lunch retrieving it. After stashing the disk away, she swam for shore. When she got there, she found Onewa waiting for her. "Any luck?" he asked. To answer his question, she held up her disk with a triumphant smile.

"And you?" she inquired as the Toa of Stone helped her out.

"You tell me," he said, and showed her his disk. "I'm just lucky that when that 'mountain in balance' fell, the hole the disk was lodged in came down on me."

With a slight chuckle at the thought, Nokama led the way back into the temple. However, when they got inside, Kit was nowhere to be seen. "Kit?" Nokama called softly.

"Hey kid, you here?" Onewa asked.

"Guys," Kit answered as she carefully peeked above a slab.

"What are doing over there?" asked Nokama.

"I heard some Matoran coming earlier and I hid," Kit explained, and she joined them.

Soon, Matau arrived with his disk, followed by Nuju and Whenua. All that was left was Vakama, and the group waited, and waited, and waited. Kit sighed impatiently; it had been about two-and-a-half hours since Whenua arrived, and there was still no apparent sign of the Toa of Fire. "I'm telling you guys, something's not right," she said. "Vakama's been gone way too long. Something's wrong."

"Don't tell me you just had a vision of the future too," said Onewa.

"No, just a feeling," replied Kit.

"I agree," spoke up Nokama. "Even if he had some trouble along the way, Vakama should've been back by now, or at least sent word to us on how he was doing. I say we go to Ta-Metru and see if he's alright."

"But even with all five of us, Ta-Metru's still a lot of ground to cover," Nuju pointed out. "That 'root of fire' he's supposed to find his disk at could be anywhere."

"Excuse me, but there are _six_ of us," Kit corrected.

"Sorry, Kit, but you're no Toa," said Whenua.

"One does not need to have the size, armor, weapons, or power of a Toa to save lives," Kit countered. "Besides, I'm not going sit around here any longer while you guys are having all of the fun. From now on, where you all go, I go. I put my foot down on that."

"You can't be serious," Onewa chuckled.

Looking the Stone Toa straight in the eye, she dared, "Try me." There was a slight pause as the Toa gazed upon the young human, then Kit added, "I assure you, if you guys in any way, shape, or form restrained me from leaving this place, I would still find some way to get myself free and catch up to you at Ta-Motru."

"Metru," Nuju corrected.

"Whatever."

The Toa couldn't help but remain speechless as the girl gave them all a steeled gaze. Seeing that she was not going to back down, or be convinced otherwise, Whenua gave in with a sigh and a slight smile. "Alright, you can come, but be careful." Kit nodded in understanding, and followed the group as they departed from the Great Temple.

"And stay near us," Onewa added, and Kit nodded once more. The Toa of Stone then turned to Matau and said under his breath, "Girl's got spirit, I'll give her that."


	2. Tested

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, 'Legends of Metru Nui', the Morbuzahk, or even the fight with the Morbuzahk (at least, not entirely).

* * *

After about an hour of walking and avoiding being seen by the Vahki patrols and the local Matoran, the group made it to the home of the makers. Kit couldn't help but stare at the furnaces that littered the district. "So, uh, where do we go from here?" she asked.

"Yeah, anybody know where this 'root of fire' is?" added Matau.

"I think I might have a hunch," said Nokama.

As the Toa of Water led the way, she explained that Ta-Metru had these fire pits that fed the fires in the furnaces and forges all over the district, thus functioning as the fire's roots. Therefore, it seemed logical that that was where Vakama had to go to find the Ta-Metru Great Disk. Nokama was no expert of the fire district, but she knew enough of her way around due to having been there for school trips and errands. "Have you ever been to these fire pits, Nokama?" asked Kit.

"No," replied the blue Toa. "The fire pits are very dangerous places; even mask makers are not allowed to go near, let alone in, them."

"Scorched Matoran, right?" guessed Onewa.

"That and the fact that if anything happened to those fires, production in Ta-Metru would stop," confirmed Nokama. "You and your friends would no longer have anything to carve."

"What does Ta-Metru production got to do with Po-Metru carvers?" Kit asked, scratching her head.

"It's here where Kanohi masks and all of the other things that Matoran use to work and play with everyday are made," said Whenua. "Then, they're shipped to Po-Metru where the finishing touches are added."

"So, every district depends on each other for the city to function as a whole," Kit realized, and the Toa nodded in confirmation.

Finally, after keeping to the shadows and avoiding Nuurahk patrols, they reached the fire pits. However, they soon became very uneasy; there didn't appear to be any sign of the Toa of Fire. They spread out in hope of finding clues of any sort, yet kept each other in sight. Though, it wasn't long before Onewa called to them, "Hey, guys, look familiar?" The Stone Toa held up a crossbow-like tool. It was Vakama's disk launcher.

Everyone seemed to instinctively freeze and looked wearily around the place, not at all liking what they had discovered and what it could mean. "Now I am starting to worry," commented Kit. Matau, meanwhile, looked nervously around himself when he felt something wrap around his right leg. He looked down just in time to see a blackened vine tighten its grip on his leg, which, in the blink of an eye, pulled him down hard to the side, and started dragging him toward a large shaft at a fast speed. In a flash, the others were after him. Onewa and Whenua grabbed him under the arms and pulled. However, whatever had hold of him was rather strong and the remaining four Toa and Kit strained with all of their combined might to free the Toa of Air. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough; no matter how much the others struggled, Matau was slowly, but surely, slipping out of their grasp.

"Get it off of me! Get it off of me!" he shouted fearfully.

As if in response, the vine managed to pull a little harder, actually causing the entire group to skid a few feet. With both sides tugging on either side of him, Matau felt like his leg was being torn out of its socket. Suddenly, Kit was struck with an idea. She grabbed the disk launcher, loaded a disk, fired at the vine, and the disk struck it. However, instead of the severed vine she was expecting, a thick coat of ice covered its length, freezing it. One tap from one of Nuju's crystal spikes to shatter a small portion of the frozen plant, and Matau was free. "Nice work, kid," complimented the Toa of Stone.

"Thanks," Kit answered. Nuju, however, was a bit taken aback by her confused expression. The girl wasn't expecting the ice coating at all, she had no knowledge of Kanoka disks or determining their effects. Looking back at the frozen vine, nobody had to say what they now feared what must've happened to Vakama. "Now I am _really_ starting to worry," Kit stated.

"C'mon, let's follow its length," said Nokama as she began climbing into the shaft from which it came. "Maybe it'll lead us to Vakama."

"Provided there is any of him for us to find," Nuju said under his breath.

"And, let's do it before this ice decides to melt," added Onewa, and they all followed the Toa of Water.

After a little bit, Nuju spoke to Kit, who walked beside him, "You know, Kit, what you did back there was a good idea, but it was also a hasty one."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you used a disk with no clue as to what its effects were. If you had fired the wrong one, you could've made a bad situation even worse, or worse, got us all killed."

"How was I supposed to know those things have special powers that are triggered when they strike their target?"

Nuju held out his Great Disk. "My point exactly—you need to learn how to determine what a disk's power is. And you're going to start by examining mine."

Using his disk and the other Toa's disks as examples, the Ice Toa taught Kit how to figure out a disk's power, power code, and power level by reading its number code. Although, she found it difficult to remember which placement and number told her what, she did her best and hoped she could somehow remember the next time she had to use one. As they continued following the vine's path, they all noticed that it seemed to be getting hotter and hotter the farther they traveled. "We must be getting near the Great Furnace," announced Nokama. "It's the hottest place in the entire Metru." Drawing on what was left of her elemental powers, she created a mist to try and keep the group cool as they proceeded. Finally, they reached the source of the vine—a giant plant with a brown stripe that ran down its length that was attached to the Great Furnace. The entire chamber was crawling with multiple vines.

"What is that thing?" asked Kit.

"The Morbuzahk," Whenua replied in a quiet voice, "it's a plant that has been terrorizing Metru Nui for quite some time."

"Hey, look," Matau pointed to something above.

It was Vakama, hanging upside down over a fire pit and struggling against the Morbuzahk vines that restrained him by his wrists and ankles. Tucked under his chin was his Great Disk. Just then, he noticed them. "Take it easy, fire-spitter, we're going to get you down," Onewa said quietly.

"Look out!" the Fire Toa warned, but it was too late. A vine struck Whenua, sending him crashing into the wall and another moved in, but the group dispersed.

"Kit, take cover," said Nokama, and the girl got behind a slab of metal.

The Toa fought with whatever of their elemental energies they had left, trying to get to their friend. Matau unleashed a powerful gust of wind to deflect some vines. The vines were repelled, but it also hit Vakama, causing him to lose his grip on his disk. The Toa of Fire could only look on in horror as he watched the Great Disk plunge toward the pit below. In the last possible moment before it was to be melted, a water spout struck the disk and Onewa's hand caught it. Then, after dodging attacking vines, Matau leapt his way to Vakama and hacked away at his restraints with his aero slicers, the plant screeching as he did. Nuju then created an ice slide and the two Toa slid to safety, but not before a vine smashed the ice and sent Vakama and Matau crashing to the ground. "Vakama! Matau!" Kit cried out. Before she knew what was happening, a vine wrapped itself around her torso and left arm and lifted her into the air with her screaming.

"Kit!" Whenua shouted.

The vine brought her up to the king root, where she instinctively tried to lean as far back as possible. A small vine reached out and, restrained as she was, Kit couldn't avoid its touch as it felt her face. "Interesssting," a terrible voice sounded in her mind. "Very interesssting indeed." Kit looked wildly around her, searching for the source of the voice. "I'm right in front of you," the voice responded.

The girl stared at the plant before her for a moment before it struck her—she was hearing the creature's thoughts. And, they were terrible thoughts; not only was it curious about her, no doubt because it never saw a human before, it was also planning to drive the Matoran to the outskirts of the city, make them its slaves, and claim itself their master. Worse, Kit and the Toa now realized they were wrong about the monster before them. It wasn't some animal on a rampage, it could think, it was cunning and evil, pure and simple. After a few moments that felt like an eternity, the Morbuzahk resumed its attack on the Toa. Kit, meanwhile, began to struggle like crazy, pushing and tugging. At one point, upon impulse, she stretched out her hand and a yellow ball of energy struck the plant. The Morbuzahk's shriek echoed in their minds, and the vine released the girl.

Almost too late, Nuju saw her falling, leapt, and caught her. "Good catch," Kit complimented breathlessly.

"Thank you," said the Toa of Ice. "What was that you did up there?"

"I'm not sure," she answered as she stared at her hand. Suddenly, two vines darted for the two and, before Nuju could do anything, Kit knocked them away with twin energy balls. "But I like it," she simply continued as if there was no interruption to the white Toa.

Unfortunately, the team was fighting a losing battle; all of the Toa's elemental powers were so weak they were practically useless, and Kit couldn't fight all of the vines off. Seven vines shot up from the Great Furnace and grabbed them, the pressure so intense they thought they would get the air squeezed out of them. "Before you ssserve, you will ssssuffer," said the Morbuzahk as it proceeded to bring them down into the furnace.

"Not a chance," proclaimed Vakama. "You had your season, monster, now it's time for the harvest. Everyone hold up your disks."

The other Toa followed the Toa of Fire's lead, and, to everyone's astonishment, all six Great Disks flashed with power. Then, the energies merged to form a giant sphere around the Morbuzahk, which tried to escape. But, being a plant that was securely rooted, there wasn't much of anywhere it could go. Kit and the Toa Metru decided there would not be a better chance to escape and struggled their way free of the vines that held them. "We have to get out of here!" Vakama shouted above the cacophony of masonry crashing to the ground and the screaming of the Morbuzahk that echoed in their minds. They all ran as fast as they could go and dared not stop until they were far away from the Great Furnace. While the others fought to catch their breath, Vakama and Kit looked back to find the Morbuzahk completely caged in the sphere the Great Disks created. And it was quite a cage; it had literally cut the monster off from the vines, higher branches, and roots that fed it energy and it the rest of its body. The sight seemed so pitiful and pathetic that, for a brief moment, Kit almost felt sorry for it, once being connected to an entire city and now isolated and alone. The vines writhed and turned to dust and the Great Furnace was pretty much disintegrated, but the show wasn't over yet. The energy sphere vanished and the king root crashed to the ground and crumbled until there was no sign of it, not even a pile of dust.

"Definitely something you don't see every day," Kit said in a half-attempt to lighten the mood. The Toa of Fire slowly nodded.

"How did you know the Great Disks would defeat that thing?" asked Nokama.

"I had a vision of it just before it captured me," Vakama answered.

"C'mon," Matau said with a hint of excitement. "What are we all standing around for? We've got ever-powerful disks and a message-announcement that we are Toa-heroes to deliver."

The group had to admit, this was one of those times that they all agreed with the Toa of Air. "And maybe, somehow, Turaga Dume can help you with your memory, Kit, and find a way to get you back to your home," suggested Nokama. The girl nodded when she felt something happening on her chest, and the Toa noticed a light purple glow from underneath her shirt. She grabbed a thread around her neck and pulled out a crystal that was pulsating with light. As quickly as it appeared, the glowing stopped. Before anyone could react, seven beams of light shot out from the crystal, connecting with every person's chest. Other than a slight tingling feeling, no one felt any pain. Kit, however, felt like something was being injected into her, something from each of the Toa. Finally, the beams retracted, leaving the girl with the strangest feeling that she'd been through something like that before. After taking a moment to digest what just happened, the group simultaneously shrugged and they all headed for the Coliseum, tired, yet proud of themselves.

* * *

Tehreisha watched on with a concerned and troubled frown. When she sensed what happened to Kit, she prayed that the child would be alright. Needless to say, she was deeply relieved that the girl made it through the warp safely. However, she was also worried. Kit's memory had nearly been wiped clean, except for her name and the occasional feelings of slight familiarity when something, a name, a sight, or even a scent, triggered them. It was nothing short of a miracle that the young human survived with her sanity still intact. There was no telling how long it would take for Kit to regain her memory in full. "And, perhaps, it is better this way for the time being," she mused, remembering how very difficult it was for the human youth to conceal her knowledge of the destruction of Ta-Koro, even if it might've benefited her friends. With her memories of the Turaga gone, she wouldn't have to worry about spoiling the story and still do her duty. But, Tehreisha knew, if the girl was going to live through this latest ordeal, her memories would have to come back soon.

* * *

Staying close to the Toa, Kit gazed in wonder as they walked down the chamber that would lead them to the arena, where Turaga Dume and, from the sound of it, all of the Matoran of Metru Nui were gathered. She could hardly believe she was inside a building whose top could not be seen from the base no matter how hard she craned her neck, the reason why she ended up, instead, looking into a chuckling Whenua's face after he caught her before she fell to the ground. Before she knew it, they were out in the sunlight with the crowd cheering for them. "Hello Metru Nui!" Matau greeted. "I always wanted to loud-shout that."

They stopped before Turaga Dume, who stood in his personal box that over looked the arena. "Vakama," he chuckled. "Matoran one day, Toa the next. No wonder you have not yet completed the Mask of Time."

After the Toa of Fire apologized for the impediment of the mentioned mask's delivery, the Turaga noticed a small figure hidden amongst the Toa. "Who's your friend?" he asked as he pointed to the center of the group.

The next thing the girl knew, she let out a yelp of surprise as Whenua deftly hoisted her onto his shoulder. The Toa of Earth's introduction was followed by gasps of intrigue and shock from the assembled Matoran. "I'm so going to hurt you for this, Whenua," Kit said through clenched teeth. Just then, she noticed a statue standing above the doorway where they came in. It was a Toa, but not like any one she'd seen before. "Whenua, is that a statue of Toa Lhikan?" she asked the Toa of Earth.

"Yep," confirmed the Toa. Kit gazed at the statue, having the slight suspicion that she'd seen this Lhikan before.

As Whenua set her down, Nokama explained that she and the other Toa came to deliver the Great Disks and to pledge themselves as the new guardians of Metru Nui. However, Turaga Dume countered that true Toa proved themselves by doing deeds, not bearing gifts. Thinking that they went through all of their troubles for nothing, the five Toa handed their disks to Vakama. Kit found herself not believing what they were doing anymore than the Fire Toa."Don't worry about it, Vakama," she said comfortingly. "We don't need those bunch of _quitters _anyway."

She purposely mentioned 'quitters' with emphasis, receiving the expected result—the Toa stopped in their tracks and turned around. "Hey, now you take that back, kid," demanded Onewa, not believing that someone about half his size actually had the guts to call him that, and with that tone.

"Make me," Kit dared, not backing down.

Vakama looked between the girl and his fellow Toa, wondering how he was going to handle this. Thankfully, it never came to that for Turaga Dume challenged them to cross the sea of protodermis. Then, if they were successful, they would be honored as heroes. Before the group could protest about Kit being involved in the test, the arena began to shake and pillars of hardened protodermis rose and sunk unpredictably. "What do we do now?" asked Onewa, there was no way they would be able to battle the pillars with their elemental energies completely exhausted, which left only one other possibility.

"We use our mask powers," said Whenua.

"Great, and just how do we do that?" the Toa of Stone inquired once more and in the process bringing up a good point. Not one of the Toa were able to use the powers of their masks, let alone had any clue what those powers were supposed to be.

Following Nokama's lead, everyone rode over a tidal wave of pillars, only to be blocked by a wall. Unable to think of anything else to do, the group scattered, trying to avoid the pillars that threatened to crush them. At one point, Kit, out of desperation, used her energy power against a pillar, blasting it in half and earning her some surprised looks from the crowd. As she frantically tried to find some safe spot amongst all of the chaos, Kit became aware of a light purple glow from the crystal around her neck. Then, without warning, five rings of yellow light surrounded her in a globe-like fashion. Separating themselves into ribbons, they wrapped around her body. To everyone's astonishment, as quickly as they appeared, they vanished, leaving Kit's appearance changed. Her shoes and jeans were replaced by blue boots with blue metal shin and thigh guards to match; in place of her shirt was a brown cover to shield her abdomen, a red chestplate, a green pack of some sort with small 'wings' on her back, and black armor appeared on her arms and hands; a white metal headband equipped with a scope for her left eye adorned her head; shoulder guards and knee caps of protodermis were formed; and underneath all of that metal was a black skintight body suit. Kit gaped, not only was she amazed at what happened, but, somehow, she felt a feeling of déjà vu, as if this happened before. "Look out!" Nuju called to Kit, but before she could find out what he meant, she was thrown high into the air by two pillars. Having to dodge pillars themselves, the Toa were unable to do anything to help and could only watch as she crashed to the ground. Slightly groaning, Kit got up, only to surprise herself by doing so.

'No way, a fall like that should've killed me,' she thought, and she reflexively clenched and unclenched her hand. 'It must be this suit, the armor must've protected me from the brunt of the fall, saving me,' she realized. Her conclusion was interrupted, though, when a shadow fell over her.

Another tidal wave of pillars, bigger than the last one, was heading toward her and the others. Try as they might, they couldn't outrun it, and found themselves being thrown painfully about the arena as if they were ants. "Enough," Turaga Dume declared, and the field was returned to normal. As the group helped each other get to their feet, and Kit's clothes returned to normal, they heard a sound that none of them was expecting to hear anymore than they were expecting this kind of test—the booing and jeering of the crowd. "Let us praise these jesters," Dume chuckled. "Perhaps they sought to entertain us during this difficult time."

"No!" Vakama protested. "We are Toa!"

But Dume continued, and this time with a frown. "Or they are imposters responsible for Toa Lhikan's demise."

"No, it was them! They took him!" Vakama pointed to one of the screens that showed two scary looking beings approaching Dume. One was green, walked on four insectoid-like legs, and had a pair of mean looking pincer-claws for hands. The other was big and powerful and had one eye that still functioned.

The Turaga, however, ignored him, ordered, "Seize them!" and the Vahki moved in.

However, the Matoran who operated the arena had other plans and pressed a button. The field started to tremble, a pit formed in the middle, and a tornado threatened to suck in everything. The Toa and their human friend started to run for cover, but the force of the tornado was too strong. Nuju, Onewa, and Whenua were sucked in and disappeared into the pit. Thinking quickly, Nokama dug one of her hydro blades into the ground to anchor herself. Near her, Matau managed to do the same with his aero slicers. Seconds later, Kit grabbed hold and wrapped her arms around the Toa of Air's waist while Nokama caught Vakama's foot. Ahead of them, an army of Vahki were still proceeding to take the remaining four into custody. Knowing they had to do something and fast, the Lhikan statue gave Nokama an idea. "Vakama! The statue, bring it down!" the Toa of Water instructed. The Fire Toa immediately summoned his launcher and a disk, only to find it wasn't the right one. The Vahki continued to make their way to the Toa.

"Hurry Vakama!" Kit shouted above the howling wind.

Finally, the Toa of Fire found the right disk and fired it at the base of the statue, causing to fall behind the Vahki. The tremor caused by the fallen icon sent the law enforcers into the tornado's grasp and enough of them were sucked in that Kit and the Toa could crawl their way to an exit. Vakama, though, was the only one who looked back, gave Turaga Dume a glare, and ran to catch up to the others. Dume turned to face the Dark Hunters, Nidhiki and Krekka. "The new Toa and their human friend must not interfere with the plan," he said as he walked inside.

"They are mere Matoran in Toa armor and the human may have _some_ power, but nothing we can't handle," said Nidhiki. "As is our duty, we shall not fail." Krekka, almost belatedly, nodded in agreement.


	3. On the Run

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

"Somehow, that was not exactly the 'congratulations' I was expecting," Kit noted as the group ran toward the edge of an airship dock.

" 'Congratulations' nothing, we've been betrayed," Vakama responded.

"We've got to save the others," said Nokama, to which Vakama agreed, but also mentioned if they were going to accomplish such a task, he, Nokama, and Matau were going to need to discover what their mask powers were.

"Whenua mentioned something about 'mask powers' back at the arena," said Kit. "What exactly are those?"

"As Toa, our masks have been infused with powers of their own to accompany our elemental ones," Nokama explained. "And, if we're going to find out what they are, we have to get out of here. C'mon."

She dove into a chute down below as her friends watched from above. "Well, if she can do it . . ." said Kit, and she jumped in after the Toa of Water.

Instantly, she was pulled forward by the protodermis and, to her amazement, was somehow able to breathe in the gel-like substance. Before long, Vakama was at her side and they mounted a transport cart. Spotting the Toa of Air up ahead, Vakama leaned down and reached his hand out while Kit held on to his waist. The red Toa caught the Air Toa's hand, his momentum carrying them down a little ways, then he hauled his brother onto the cart. Catching up to Nokama, they trailed her down the chute. Along the way, Kit thought about all that had happened within the past several hours and came to a conclusion—she couldn't believe this was happening to her. Suddenly, the protodermis came to a complete stop and everything seemed to stand still. Kit and Vakama looked to Matau who shrugged, just as confused as they were. Then, the current came back, only in reverse. "Hang on!" cried Nokama as the current carried them down back the way they came. The cart bumped into the wall of the chute, causing its three passengers to lose their grip and hurtle out of control. Thinking fast, Nokama used one of her hydro blades to hook onto one of the rings that stabilized the chute. Vakama and Kit were approaching fast and the Toa of Fire grabbed onto Nokama's spare blade as the girl wrapped her arms around his neck, and Vakama grabbed hold of Matau's ankle as he passed over. The Air Toa twisted around and used one of his aero slicers to cut them a way out. However, a large transport cart came down a little low, and forced them out of the chute. Nokama and Vakama acted at the same time: Vakama let go of Nokama's hydro blade and moved his grip down to her ankle, and Nokama hooked both blades onto the ring, saving them from falling to the ground far below. During all of this, Kit instinctively wrapped her legs around the Fire Toa's waist and was now holding on for all it was worth. "Everyone alright?" asked Nokama as she glanced down at the others, whose lives were now practically in her hands.

"Oh, sure-fine," responded Matau as he dangled upside-down. "Just enjoying the view."

Kit then noticed that Vakama seemed to be struggling, "Vakama?" But, the Toa of Fire didn't answer her, his expression going blank, as if he were in a trance. Despite this, his grip on either ends did not loosen, for which she was most grateful. "Vakama?" she tried again, still no response. She said his name again a little louder, and he finally snapped out of it. "Another vision?"

Before he could answer, Matau said, "Less vision-seein', more Toa-savin'."

Suddenly, the blades jerked. "We're slipping," realized Nokama.

"Can we make it to that tower?" asked Vakama as he tried to maintain hold on a slightly panicking Matau.

The Water Toa looked ahead, calculated the distance between them and the tower as quickly as possible, and came to the conclusion that she wasn't sure if they could make it. But, what other choice did they have? And so, she started swinging, "We're going to have to." Slowly, but surely, the swinging got easier and easier, thanks to the fact that, whether they were trying or not, the other three's momentum was helping her in her task. Not to mention, with every swing, the blades were slipping off more and more, inch by inch. With one last heave, the blades let go, Nokama led them in chain-flip, and caught the ledge of the tower. Unfortunately, the sudden stop caused Vakama to lose his grip on Matau, and the Toa of Air plunged toward the ground far below. Watching in horror, Kit silently prayed for a miracle, and it happened.

He didn't know how it happened, but, somehow, Matau's aero slicers unfolded themselves to become glider wings, the wind caught them and lifted him into the air. "Look at me!" he hollered above the wind. "I can--" only to collide into a tower, and finish weakly, "wind . . . fly," and he slowly slid down.

On the other tower, Kit remarked, "That's gotta hurt," while she held onto Vakama as he and Nokama climbed their way down.

Once they were all on solid ground, Nokama, Matau, and Kit worked on forming a plan. While the blue and green Toa talked, the young girl stole a glance at Vakama, who was seated on the ground. "Kit, could you go get Vakama? We need to get moving," asked the Toa of Water. With a nod, she went to fetch the red Toa.

"C'mon Vakama, we gotta move," she said, but the Toa looked as if he didn't hear her. Approaching closer, she thought she saw the two disks in his hands glow. "What's wrong?"

"Kit, watch," Vakama instructed as he moved them closer together. The disks glowed and looked as if they were magnetically being drawn to each other. Vakama let them do so and they merged, creating a new, blank disk. "Remarkable," the Fire Toa said in awe.

"Try Matau's," Kit suggested as she handed the disk to him. He held it near the blank disk and, just like before, the two merged together.

"Vakama, Kit, c'mon," said Nokama, who joined them, unaware of what they discovered. Vakama was about to explain what happened when he spotted and pointed to a streak of light in the sky above them.

"Wow, that's brightest shooting star I've ever seen," commented Kit.

"That's not a shooting star, Kit," Vakama corrected, "that's Toa Lhikan's spirit star."

"Spirit star?"

"Yes, each Toa has one. As long as it burns in the night sky, Toa Lhikan remains alive."

"It is headed toward Po-Metru," Nokama announced after calculating the star's trajectory.

"What about our captured Toa-brothers?" asked Matau.

"Yeah, we can't just leave them," Kit agreed.

But, Vakama pointed out that if they were going to stop Dume and rescue the others, they were going to need the help and power of Toa Lhikan. Matau, then, challenged him to explain how they were going to get to the district of the carvers, when Nokama spotted a Vahki transport that was going in the same direction. Catching up to it, the four hitched a ride. Inside, Kit noticed some large ball things, "What the heck are these?"

"Storage containers," answered Matau, "but most odd-looking."

Curious, Vakama laid a hand on one of the spheres, only to just stare off into space. By now, Kit knew what that look meant—he was having another vision. A moment later, the Toa of Fire's senses returned to normal and he immediately opened the canister, claiming that the Matoran were in danger. Only, there was nothing in there. "You crossed-wired?" asked Matau, and he felt a sharp jab in his arm. He looked down at the only person who could've done it, but Kit was looking out the back.

When she felt his eyes on her, she glanced back at him and asked, "What?" Scratching his head, the Toa of Air let it slide. Nokama, meanwhile, was trying very hard not to laugh, let alone smile, for she saw the whole thing. Kit, on the other hand, wondered how Nuju and the others were holding up.

* * *

In a cell located they-didn't-know-where, Onewa hopped off of Whenua's shoulders. Just moments ago, he tried to rip a grate that was their only light source off its hinges, when they learned they weren't the only prisoners. There was an unfamiliar Turaga with them as well who wore a helmet that covered his mask. "Your concern should be with your own identity, not mine," the Turaga said when the question about his name came up. "Freedom and escape are different objectives, but both are easily realized."

"You are stuck in here with us, so . . ." said Onewa.

"I have freedom, even in here," countered the Turaga, "but for escape, Toa mask powers are needed."

Nuju approached the elder with a sad expression, "With all due respect, wise one, I doubt we will ever be in touch with our mask powers."

"Never doubt what you are capable of," the Turaga smiled. "The Great Spirit lives through us all."

The three Toa looked at each other, wondering what the Turaga had in mind.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Vahki transport continued on its course, still unaware of its four stowaways. Nokama glanced at Vakama, who was sitting forlornly in the back. She knew what he was thinking about. "Vakama, your destiny no longer lies in sculpting masks," she said. "You are a Toa."

"I'll never be a real Toa," the Toa of Fire sighed. "I can't even make a decent mask. I'm just a crossed-wired freak who has weird dreams. Toa Lhikan, you got it wrong."

The Toa of Water knelt beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder as she said, "You will. Have faith."

"She's right, Vakama," Kit said, who just joined them. "I can't explain it, but, somehow, I just know everything will turn out alright."

"How can you be so sure?" asked the Fire Toa.

The girl thought about it for a moment before responding with a shrug, "I don't know, I just do." Then, she walked back into the further end of the transport, leaving two amazed Toa behind. She stole a glance at the seated Toa of Air and said, "Just for the record, I saw that."

"Sight-saw what?"

"You like her. A lot."

Matau's response was surprise at the girl's cocked eyebrows. Quickly recovering, he said, "No, I'm not."

"Uh huh, sure," she sarcastically agreed with his denial, and got comfortable.

* * *

A few hours later, Matau announced that they were at Po-Metru. As they prepared to jump ship, he went to get Kit, who had fallen asleep some time ago. "Hey, wake up," he said as he gently shook her shoulder.

"Are we there yet?" the girl asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes. Matau nodded, they joined Nokama and Vakama, and they all jumped off.

"Stick close," said Matau as the group got up. "Bad things happen in the desert."

"Th-they do?" Kit asked a little nervously.

Before the Toa of Air could say anything, Nokama replied, "Don't listen to him, Kit, he doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Fine. Don't listen to me, teacher," Matau retorted, a little disappointed that she had to spoil his joke and called out to anyone who might be in the village. His own echo answered them.

The group did not like this one bit; it was far too quiet and not a single light was on in any of the huts, giving the place a very eerie feeling. Worse, there was a pile of the same containers that the transport was carrying, and Kit could've sworn she heard something like multiple heartbeats coming from them. She would've investigated further, but found she was being left behind and ran to keep up with the Toa. "Hello, anybody here?" she called out and, just like last time, there nothing but an echo. "They all ran off?"

Nokama shook her head, "Builders do not abandon their projects without good reason."

"Then, where is everyone?" asked Vakama.

Kit had a suspicion, but thought better of it. After all, what she was thinking couldn't have been what happened to the Matoran. Or could it? Before she could say anything, a voice called out to them. It was Krekka, the big and ugly guy from the Coliseum, and he fired a disk-shaped beam of red energy. Moving quickly, Nokama spun her hydro blades and deflected Krekka's blasts. With the Toa of Water shielding them, Kit and the Toa ran for cover behind a hut. But, Matau would have none of it and immediately ran back out to confront the enemy. "A Toa-hero knows no fear," he declared as he took out his aero slicers and dodged another blast from Krekka. Nidhiki released a beam of green energy from his mouth and it met its target. Matau fell to the ground and found that, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't move, let alone get up. The energy was messing with his motor functions. "Help!" he called. "Vakama, Kit, Nokama, there's a Toa down."

Seeing the two fiends move in for the capture, Vakama and Kit ran out from their cover to help their friend. When her attempt to stop them failed, Nokama saw no choice but to accompany them. All three readied themselves, Vakama with his disk launcher, Kit with her Toa armor suit and hands glowing with energy waiting to be released, and Nokama spinning her blade, as they charged. Nidhiki prepared another blast when, all of a sudden, the entire canyon began to shake. "What's going on? Are you doing that?" asked Krekka.

"Now what?" Nidhiki inquired, ignoring his partner.

The shaking steadily got more and more violent, causing boulders and rocks to tumble over the edges of the canyon. "Bio-quake?" the Toa of Fire looked to the Water Toa.

"Worse," Nokama replied. In the distance, a huge cloud of dust appeared around the corner and gigantic, horned beasts could be seen stampeding in a hop-like fashion.

"What the heck--?" gasped Kit.

"Kikanalo!" Nokama answered as she widened her eyes.

At that moment, Nidhiki and Krekka decided now would be a good time to get out of the way of the Rahi, leaving a still restrained Matau in their path. The Toa of Air doubled his efforts to get up, but it was no use; soon, the Rahi would be upon him and his elemental powers had still not recovered. Vakama dared to run in and free his friend, just before his head would've been flattened by a Kikanalo's foot, and they joined up with Kit and Nokama. While they waited for the herd to move on, Kit noticed that while Nidhiki jumped into a trench that the animals leaped over, Krekka climbed up a bar-cage that served as a ladder around a statue. However, this proved to be a big mistake when one of the beasts rammed into one of the supports, and the Dark Hunter's weight made it fall—right on top of Nidhiki. Kit grimaced, then grinned, "That's gonna leave a mark."

Just then, the Toa and human found themselves being pursued by the herd and ran. "I was wrong, you were right, my brother," Nokama apologized to Matau.

"It's amazing what you can learn when you're not always speak-teaching," said the Toa of Air.

As the four continued running, the Toa of Water heard a voice say, "_Stop!_"

"What did you say?" she asked Matau, thinking it was him.

"I didn't say--" the Air Toa began, then noticed that the Toa of Water's mask gleaming a blue light. "Why the mask-glow?"

'My mask?' thought Nokama, and she formed an idea.

Vakama, Kit, and Matau jumped into a trench, and looked back to find that Nokama was still out there, facing the herd. She heard Vakama and Kit call to her, but she ignored them, staying her ground. Looking straight at the leader, she held up her hand and said in the Rahi's language, "_Stop!_" Immediately, the leader and the entire herd dug their feet into the ground, finally skidding to a halt right in front of Nokama.

"Whoa," was all Kit could say as Matau whooped and Vakama just couldn't believe his eyes.

"My mask power," awed Nokama. The Kikanalo roared, and she understood every single sound. "The Chief wants to know why we are allied with the Dark Hunters."

"Tell him we're not," said Vakama. "We seek a friend whose been taken by the Hunters."

The Toa of Water did so, and the beast roared in a more gentle way. "We are . . . free to pass since we are both against the Hunters who . . . trespass the beauty of the Herdlands," she translated.

"Beauty. Where?" Matau scoffed. "And, who knew Kikanalo could think-talk? I just thought they were dumb beasts."

The Chief Kikanalo roared and Nokama translated, "Kikanalo still think the same of tall green Matoran."

"Hey, I'm a Toa," the Toa of Air corrected, then, suddenly, Kit snapped her fingers.

"Whoa, wait a minute. Tall Matoran? Nokama, ask him if the Dark Hunters came through here with a red and yellow tall Matoran."

Again, Nokama translated the question into the Kikanalo's language and the Rahi responded. "Yes," she deciphered, "They take many things to the 'Place of Unending Whispers."

"That must be where they have Toa Lhikan," Vakama realized.

"They will show us the way," the Water Toa announced. Just then, the group could hear Kit having some trouble and found her surrounded by quite a few members of the herd, all sticking their noses at her, sniffing, apparently curious. At the same time, Kit was trying to get away from them, without success. Finally, the crowd dispersed and one of the Kikanalo communicated to the Chief while Kit instantly joined the Toa, as if for protection. The Chief communicated to Nokama, who said, "They've decided."

"Decided what?" asked Vakama.

"That Kit's some kind of different species of Matoran," she chuckled.

While the Toa laughed, Kit wasn't sure whether to join them, or give them a death glare. The Chief and two other Kikanalo allowed the Toa and girl to mount them and they were off.


	4. Reunited

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle or the scene from the movie novelization that takes place in this chapter.

* * *

Riding behind the Toa of Fire with her hands to his sides, Kit looked around, trying to stay awake. However, there wasn't much to look at but an open plain with mesas, cliffs, and trees scattered here and there. Without realizing it, her eyelids were beginning to get very heavy when, all of a sudden, she thought she heard a growling sound and her eyes snapped open, now fully awake. She unconsciously stiffened, her heart racing with anxiety and her senses on the alert. Vakama noticed, "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you just hear something?" she asked in a low voice.

Just then, the Kikanalo stopped and looked this way and that; they could sense something was out there, something dangerous. "Hey, what are we halt-stopping for?" Matau asked the Rahi and a brown blur pounced on him, knocking him off of his Kikanalo and pinning him to the ground. It appeared to be reptilian, moved on two powerful legs that were meant for speed and jumping, and had a hungry look in its eyes.

"Rock raptors!" exclaimed Vakama before he heard some snarling on the hills next to them.

It was more raptors, a whole pack of them, and they were moving in for the attack. Meanwhile, Matau struggled to get free from the Rahi. The raptor reared its head, intending to deliver a killing bite to the Toa's throat. Moving quickly, the Toa of Air grabbed his aero slicer, which the Rahi ended up biting into instead, and he flipped the beast off of him. The Kikanalo tried to protect both themselves and their allies from the predators, but it wasn't easy. At one point, Kit lost her hold and fell, sliding down a nearby dune. When she looked up, she found one rock raptor waiting at the top. She ran, and the Rahi and two more of its companions gave chase. Kit knew there was no way she could hope to outrun the beasts, so she let loose some energy balls whenever she could in an attempt to impede their progress. Thankfully, it seemed to be working; however, she found herself heading for a deep and wide dried up river bed, forcing her to skid to a halt. She turned back around to face the raptors, who, as they slowly advanced, seemed to curve their mouths into wicked smiles. Suddenly, the edge collapsed under her weight and she fell with a thud. Groaning, she got up and was not at all surprised to find the three raptors looking down at her, although, just when she was sure they were going to jump in after her, they stopped and sniffed the air and, with scared sounding hisses, left. 'What could they be so scared of?' Kit wondered as she brushed herself off. As if in answer, she heard growling behind her and, at first, thought there were more raptors, but realized an instant later that these growls sounded different. She looked to find a group of wolf-like creatures had spotted her. "Not again," she said and ran, hearing the Rahi's howls as they pursued her. Kit called out to the Toa as she moved and used the same technique on the Rahi as she did on the raptors. Unfortunately, she tripped over a rock and fell. Spotting their chance, the Rahi pack surrounded her, forcing her against the wall. In desperation, Kit fired more energy balls close to their feet, hoping to scare them away. But, all she succeeded in doing was making them angry and they inched closer. Just when they were getting ready to pounce, a loud crash was heard from above and they looked up, as did Kit. A large shape soared over her and placed itself between the girl and the wolves. The Kikanalo snorted and growled, and some of the wolves, including the leader of the pack, backed away a bit. One of the more foolhardy wolves, though, spotted Vakama on the Kikanalo's back and ran, intending to jump him. The Toa of Fire, however, was ready and launched a fireball at its feet. That made it think twice and one of its friends decided to try its luck and leapt for Kit, but the Kikanalo blocked it in mid-air with its muzzle and threw it back, then let loose a sonic roar that blew some of the wolves away. Yelping, the pack retreated with the Kikanalo roaring after them.

"Are you alright, Kit?" asked the Fire Toa.

Kit nodded and asked as Vakama helped her onto the Rahi's back, "What were those things?"

"Kavinika," Vakama answered, "vicious beasts."

'No kidding,' the girl thought, remembering that they looked like they were ready to tear her apart. It was no wonder those three raptors backed off; there was no way they would stand a chance against a pack that size. Within minutes, hers and Vakama's Kikanalo caught up to Nokama and Matau and they got back on course.

The few remaining hours of the night passed, and Kit found herself stirring on the Kikanalo's back. She had just settled herself behind Vakama when Matau whooped excitedly. "Only a great Toa-rider could tame a wild Kikanalo-beast," said the Air Toa, only to have his Kikanalo ride buck him off. The next thing he knew, he was hanging upside down due to his foot being caught in the Rahi's vertebrae cables. With the Rahi still walking, he couldn't pull himself up.

Kit couldn't help but laugh at the sight, "Looks more to me like a great Toa-rider just got tamed."

Nokama chuckled in response, Vakama smiled, and the Kikanalo groaned in a way that sounded like it was laughing. Matau, however, was not amused. "Very funny. Very, very funny," he said with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

* * *

"Vahki," the Toa of Air gasped at the sight below him, "hundreds of them." The group had finally arrived at their destination and was surveying the bottom of a canyon from the cliff above. Rows upon rows of Vahki Zadakh were lined up, guarding a doorway that was carved in the shape of a mask.

"That must be where Toa Lhikan is," said Nokama. "What should we do? How do we get in there?"

"I have a plan," answered Vakama and he explained it to his friends.

* * *

Nokama, riding the Chief Kikanalo, moved in, trying her best not to feel too nervous. Vakama's plan was to divide the Vahki, get them to go in different directions and draw them away from their posts. A simple idea, but timing was going to be everything. A small squad of the enforcers spotted her and she dared them to chase her, which they were more than happy to oblige when her ride started moving. A little way's away, Matau did the same with another small squad, and it was finally Vakama's and Kit's turn. Getting the remaining group to follow them, they led them into a boxed part of the canyon and waited as the Vahki advanced, certain that the fugitives were cornered. Once they were close enough, four Kikanalo leaped down between the Toa and girl and the Vahki. For a moment, the Vahki just stood there, as if confused. Why would these Rahi wish to protect these two? Before they could do anything about it, the Kikanalo used their sonic roars to send the Vahki packing while causing Kit and Vakama to cover their ears from the loud echo. 'Guess that's why they call it the Place of Unending Whispers,' thought Kit. 'My ears will be ringing for a week.'

Hopping onto their Kikanalo, the Toa of Fire and human girl met up with Nokama and dismounted at the doorway, where Matau met up with them. "Hey, Kikanalo," said the green Toa as he jumped off, "whose your mas--". The Rahi growled at him, making him think twice, "I mean, who's your partner?" Liking that term much better, the Kikanalo gave the Air Toa an approving lick, much to Matau's disgust.

Kit smiled and gently patted and stroked her and Vakama's Kikanalo, who rumbled contentedly; they all made a good team. The Chief roared, which Nokama translated, "The Chief said 'Not bad—for 'flat-walkers'.' They will cover our herd tracks." Vakama turned to the Kikanalo and informed them that Toa Lhikan would be indebted to them and joined the others. Once they were inside, the Kikanalo used their roars to create an avalanche of boulders and rocks. Unbeknownst to them, Nivawk was spying on them and flew to relay the news to his master.

* * *

At the Coliseum, a small red figure was smiling to himself. Everything was going perfectly, all that remained were a few more things and his plan would be complete. Just then, Nivawk swooped in and told the figure in his own chittering dialogue of what he witnessed. "Excellent," the figure confirmed, then turned his attention to a mask that reflected his Kraahkan. Makuta smirked, "Dume's mask has been very useful. Now for its final task. The future will be mine, evenwithout the Mask of Time."

* * *

Meanwhile, Kit and the Toa continued making their way down the tunnel when they heard voices. Matau volunteered to scout ahead, but Nokama voiced her concern that it could be Vahki. "Exactly," the Toa of Air smiled mischievously, and used his new-found mask power to change into a Vahki, a Rorzakh to be exact.

"Cool," Kit said with approval.

The Air Toa saluted and went ahead of them. As he got closer, he realized he recognized the voices, his brother Toa, and he was about to go greet them when a better, and more fun, idea crossed his mind. Instead, he charged right at Whenua, who was in the lead, tackled him to the ground, and laughed at his friend's fright. "Hey, turn out the bright-light," he said as a light shone in his face, and surprised the heck out of the other Toa.

"Matau?" questioned the Toa of Earth; he thought he recognized that voice.

Laughing, the Air Toa reverted back to normal, "_Toa_ Matau to you, Whenua."

The other Toa couldn't believe it; Matau could shapeshift and Nokama could translate both written texts as well as spoken languages. But, Vakama still had yet to discover his mask power and felt left out. "How did you know we would be here?" asked Nuju.

"To tell you the truth, we didn't," answered Kit. "We came looking for Toa Lhikan so we could free you."

"He's not here," Onewa shrugged, then turned to the sound of the Turaga's chuckling.

"Well, not exactly," and he removed the helmet, revealing a mask that all of the Toa Metru knew all too well.

"Toa Lhikan?" asked Vakama.

"No, Vakama, you are Toa. I am _Turaga_ Lhikan," Lhikan responded. Then, he turned his attention to Kit and spoke before the girl could. "You must be the one called Kit. Toa Nuju, Onewa, and Whenua told me a lot about you."

The girl blushed as she slightly smiled. Finally, Whenua took the question out of his brothers' mouths, "Why didn't you tell us who you were?"

"Your task was to discover who _you_ are," the new Turaga explained. "Only with such knowledge would your powers reveal themselves."

"Hold on," said Kit as a thought crossed her mind. "If you're a Turaga now, where did your Toa power go?"

"It lives on in Vakama and the others," Lhikan answered and turned to the Toa of Fire, asking him if the 'heart of the city' was safe. The Fire Toa looked at him uncertainly, then answered that they were saving him now. "Oh, you are so misguided," the Turaga sighed sadly. "I am not Metru Nui's heart. The Matoran are."

Though there was no anger in those words, they still hit everyone, especially Vakama, like a ton of bricks. All of this time, they thought they were doing what their predecessor asked of them, when it now turned out they misunderstood. "Then I failed you," Vakama said despondently, then he turned to Nokama. "I told you. I'm a crossed-wired freak, chasing my dreams, wasting everyone's time. I'll never be a real Toa," and he walked away.

Nokama called to him as she and Kit went to catch up to him, but Lhikan stopped them. "We cannot help Vakama. He must learn to believe in himself. Only then will find his destiny." Kit looked on with an empathetic expression to the Toa of Fire.

Vakama looked at the ground, feeling like he had not only led the other Toa astray, but let his former Toa down, whose capture he felt responsible for. He laid a hand on one of the storage containers, only to react to a glow from within. The door slid open and the Fire Toa gasped at what was inside. "Vakama," Kit called as she ran to him, "what's wro--," and ended up taking a step back as she too gasped and widened her eyes in disbelief. "Turaga Dume?"

"The _true_ Turaga Dume," Lhikan said as he and the others joined them. "As I feared, an imposter is posing as a mask we all trust." Vakama then had another vision. He saw red, eyes staring down at him, and a voice that, at first, sounded like Dume's, then it grew deeper, more menacing, and evil. And, the vision ended.

"If this is Turaga Dume," said Kit, "then who is--"

"You don't want to know whose really in control of Metru Nui," Vakama answered.

Suddenly, they heard a chorus of snarls coming their way; the Vahki had found them. Whenua led them into a room and closed the door, but it wouldn't hold them off for long. Then, as if things weren't bad enough, a hiss filled the cavern, and hundreds upon hundreds of three-foot long winged things swarmed around the group. "What are these things?" asked Kit as she tried to swat some of them away.

"Lohrak," Whenua replied. "whatever you do, don't let them get a hold of you."

Kit was about to ask why, when she soon found out for herself. One Lohrak took advantage of her distraction and coiled its tail around her torso and tightened. Almost instantly, she found it a little hard to breathe, but an energy blast, not powerful enough to kill it, just show it and the others she could fight back, made it let go. Her ears caught the sound of someone gasping harshly and she turned to find Nuju on the floor, his legs bound by two Lohrak while he tried to wrestle another one's tail off his neck. Rushing to him, she immediately grabbed hold, trying to help the Toa of Ice, but, the creature's grip was too strong and Nuju was fading fast. His struggling started to decrease and he was losing his grip as life slipped away from him. As much as she wanted to, Kit couldn't risk an energy blast, so, as her attempts to free the Ice Toa became more desperate, something clicked in her mind and she decided to give it a try.

Quickly locating the end of the Lohrak's tail, she carefully worked to bend it backwards, so as not to seriously injure the Rahi. Instantly, the Lohrak looked extremely uncomfortable and it and its companions fled while the Toa of Ice coughed for air. "Thanks," Nuju said in a raspy voice as Kit helped him to his feet.

"Just returning the favor," she replied with a smile.

For several minutes, it was nothing but pure chaos as the heroes ducked and dodged to avoid the winged serpents that swooped and dove all over the place. Onewa tried using his newfound mask power on the Rahi, but there were too many for him to focus on.

Then, Vakama came up with an idea, "You've discovered your mask powers, now remember your elemental ones." At first, the other Toa Metru were skeptical. How long did it take for their elemental powers to recharge? Then, seeing that they had no other choice, they went into action.

Whenua used his earthshock drills to make a crack in the wall; Onewa helped him widen it with his proto piton; Vakama herded the Lohrak swarm into the crack; and Nuju sealed it up with a translucent sheet of ice. Walking to the wall of ice to get a better look, Kit saw that the Lohrak were butting their heads against the ice, as if trying to get out. "You no-good little twerps," she frowned at them, and gave them the raspberry, only to have five of them snap their jaws at her, scaring the heck out of her.

She rejoined the group; now where could they go from here? Whenua pointed out that the only other exit they had was blocked off. Vakama looked around him. He and his friends were in danger and there was nowhere for them to run or hide. Then, a Vahki transport caught his eye, and he thought about what Lhikan said during the struggle with the Lohrak, "Someone must take charge."

"Then we make our own way out," he announced, "c'mon." Everyone hopped into the transport, Matau taking the wheel.

"What about Turaga Dume?" Onewa asked the Toa of Fire.

"He'll be safe until we return," Vakama assured him, and gave the word to move forward.

When they reached the cavern wall, Whenua revved up his earthshock drills, forming a tunnel to the surface for them. Behind them, the Vahki managed to break the door down just as they vanished into the new tunnel and pursued. Kit, Onewa, and Vakama, seeing them coming, slowed them down with energy powers, stone, and fire. They just turned the last remaining Vahki in the squad into a smoking pile of rubble when Matau told everyone to hold on tight. The transport leapt out of the ground and headed for the Coliseum.

* * *

Author's Note: I now know that the kavinika are native to Ga-Metru, but, at the time this story was written, I didn't have the resources to check on that and had to work from memory (I thought at the time that they were native to Po-Metru). Please, for the sake of this chapter, bear with me (I just don't have the heart to just go and delete a good part of it). As for the measurement of the lohrak, that's just a guess taken from how big the mutated one in 'Web of the Visorak' was.


	5. We are Toa!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

Finally, they made it to the arena near the top, only to find empty. "Quickly!" Turaga Lhikan urged as the team rushed in.

"Too late, Toa and human," Dume announced. As he laughed, they stopped in their tracks as it turned into an evil and menacing sound. He removed his mask, revealing his true self as the imposter heralded, "The Shadow has arrived."

"Makuta, you were sworn to _protect_ the Matoran," Lhikan exclaimed.

"I shall," Makuta replied, "and when they awake, I will be their great leader."

"Deceit and self-interest will never be virtues the Matoran honor," Vakama proclaimed.

"You got that right," Kit agreed.

Makuta, however, laughed, noting both the Fire Toa's and the small one's boldness. "Now, even the Great Spirit will soon sleep," he decreed as the elevator moved up the spire, to the absolute tallest point of the building. The twin moons became eclipsed with a shadow that seemed to envelop the city by darkening the sky and lightning flashed. Knowing they had to locate the Matoran, Vakama turned to Whenua, who activated his mask power of night vision to its highest point, enabling him to see through the floor.

Within moments, he found them. "Matoran capsules, thousands of them. They're down below." The group ran back to the transport and Vakama told Matau where to go. As they moved toward the Matoran, they distinctly hear Makuta's laughter. Matau turned his attention back to the road in time to see they were about to go over a ledge. With a yell, he managed to pull the transport to a stop just in time and whistled as he looked down the far drop. Immediately, the other Toa jumped off and Nokama opened a capsule only to discover that were indeed too late.

The Matoran inside was alive, but asleep, and there was no doubt that the thousands of others were in the same condition. "Can we save them all?" asked the Toa of Water.

"We can't take them all now," said Vakama. "We'll return for the others later."

"Yes, we must get them to safety," said Lhikan.

The Toa Metru, along with Kit, got to work right away at loading as many capsules as the transport could carry while Lhikan watched with silent pride. Finally, the transport was as full as they could get it. "Kit, c'mon, we have to go," Nokama called to the girl who was trying to maneuver another capsule. Kit left the capsule and ran to the transport, where the Toa of Water and Earth helped her in. Once they were outside the building and on their way, Kit noticed that at the top there was a strange red, spinning spiral with red eyes. Judging from the laughter that emanated from it, she had no doubt that it was Makuta, but, before she could wonder anymore about what it might mean, the Dark Hunters attacked.

Krekka pestered Matau while Nidhiki cornered her, Turaga Lhikan, and Nuju. "Toa or Turaga, your fate shall be the same, Lhikan," said the Dark Hunter.

Kit switched to her Toa armor suit and said, "Over our dead bodies, freak," as she and the Toa of Ice placed themselves between the Dark Hunter and their mentor. The white Toa gave the young human an odd look that she either didn't notice or ignored.

"That can be arranged," Nidhiki smiled cruelly and attacked with his claws. The Ice Toa and girl fought back, but Nuju knew that they wouldn't last very long, especially if Nidhiki decided to use energy beams against them. Suddenly, Krekka jumped his partner and was glowing a tannish-brown color. "Fool, get off," Nidhiki grumbled, unable to break out of the brute's grip.

"My thoughts exactly," said a voice and the Dark Hunters went flying into the air. Kit looked up to find Onewa, a glow on his mask starting to fade. Spying her questioning expression, the Toa of Stone simply smiled, tapped his mask, and replied, "Mind-control."

Now understanding what happened, all Kit could think to say was, "Wicked."

"Matau, head for the Great Temple," Vakama instructed, and the Toa of Air complied. Kit looked back at the Coliseum, thinking she heard the Dark Hunters screaming, but shrugged it off.

Soon they made it to the Great Temple, only to find a barricade of Vahki Bordakh aiming their staffs at the approaching craft. "Where to now?" asked Matau, and Vakama told him to drive off the edge of the bridge just before the Vahki fired. Luckily, they missed. Matau told everybody to hope that the transport would float and rammed it through the rail. Inside, Kit had hold of Turaga Lhikan to cushion him as they slammed into the wall, and the transport hit the protodermis sea. The Vahki looked over the edge, but there was no sign of the transport or any survivors, and they left. Just then, the transport bobbed up to the surface and everyone was alive and well, aside from being wet. With the legs serving as oars, Matau steered the transport toward the Great Barrier, considering they had nowhere else to go.

On the way, Vakama used his old mask-making tool to fashion the blank disk that was now the end result of all six Great Disks into one final project—the Mask of Time. "You no longer need to mask-make, Vakama," said Matau as he shook his head. "It's time you accepted that you are a Toa."

"Time, of course," the Toa of Fire exclaimed. "That's what the false Turaga wanted." Then, his mind got lost in another vision. He saw Lhikan when he was still a Toa; the Matoran spheres; the Matoran if Makuta had succeeded; his vision of Toa Lhikan's mask talking to him after the Dark Hunters captured him; Turaga Lhikan; himself being drawn to a crack of light in the Great Barrier; a scene from one of his most recent visions where Toa Lhikan turned into his spirit star and shot up into the sky; he, his fellow Toa, and Kit carrying Matoran capsules into the light with Turaga Lhikan's hand overshadowing them. Then, the vision ended, and Vakama knew where they had to go. "Follow the light," he said to the Toa of Air. "Our destiny lies in the light _beyond_ the Great Barrier."

At the cockpit, Matau and Kit looked at each other, shrugged, and the Air Toa drove the transport toward where a speck of light could be seen through the wall. However, someone was not willing to let them leave. Hearing something land on one the many pillars that surrounded them, they looked up, and saw Makuta, only bigger and features of Nidhiki, Krekka, and Nivawk made up his body. "Your journey must end," said the monster.

"By the will of the Great Spirit, it has just begun," the Toa of Fire protested, unwilling to give up now that they'd come this far.

Kit, meanwhile, observed with alarm. The voice, the mask, the power, even Makuta himself made her feel like she had met this guy, or, at least something like him, before and it filled her with a sense of dread that ran up and down her spine. At the same time, something seemed different. 'Maybe it's the wings,' she thought.

"Then perish in the _real_ sea of protodermis," Makuta responded to Vakama, and he formed pillars of liquid protodermis that reached for the sky.

Vakama pointed to the light ahead of them, and Matau put on the speed and steered right for it. Makuta made another pillar appear right in their path, with no way to get around it. "I got it," Onewa cried as he leapt into the air and smashed through it with his proto piton, disintegrating it for the transport to pass through.

"Nokama, quick-turn," Matau called as two more pillars shot up. The Toa of Water threw out her hydro blade, which latched onto the protodermis, and she held on tight.

The Toa of Air and Kit held on to the steering wheeland railing as they whooped when the craft performed a wide turn at a high speed. "Nuju, get me up there," Vakama said to the Toa of Ice, and he activated the telekinetic powers of his mask, lifting the Fire Toa into the air. Hearing someone call his name, Vakama looked to see Kit smiling and giving him a thumb's up. The Toa nodded, and switched his gaze back to the pillar where Makuta stood, praying that what he had in mind would work. Down at the transport, Kit and Matau noticed a giant, darker-shaded shadow had suddenly appeared. They looked up to find one of the protodermis pillars falling into the sea right in front of them, creating rough waves that rocked them. The violent motion caused Nuju to loose his balance, and he banged his head against the wall, the glow from his mask faded. In a flash, Kit was by his side, asking him if he was ok.

Then she noticed Lhikan was getting on some kind of board and he took off into the air. 'Now where in the world does he think he's going?' she thought to herself, but she didn't have much of a chance to ponder about it for, just then, the transport crashed against the side of one of the pillars. Kit was thrown off easily, but her Toa armor suit formed and the pack on her back came to life with the sound of small rockets and she found herself skipping the surface of the water like a stone before she felt herself go up. Before she knew what was happening, she was zooming out of control through the air and near the water, nearly colliding with the Toa as they watched, bemused. "Hey, how do you work this thing!?" she shouted.

"How should we know? You're the one wearing it," said Onewa.

Finally, and thankfully, Kit managed to gain enough control to slow down to a stop and hovered in the air, not sure whether to be excited or horrified. Her eyes caught a giant reddish-black hand and a golden funnel about to collide with each other and decided to help. As she got closer, she not only saw that Turaga Lhikan was there too, but that everything, including herself, seemed to be slowing down. 'What's going on here?' she wondered, then noticed that Vakama had something on top of his Huna—he was wearing and using the Mask of Time and trying to slow down time in the area in an attempt to stop Makuta's attack. Unfortunately, the Toa of Fire didn't have the discipline to properly control such power and the hand proceeded toward him. Seeing that Lhikan was heading for him, Kit tried to stop him, but it was too late. The Turaga jumped between Vakama and the hand, using the board as a shield. The hand struck, grabbing the board and absorbing it into Makuta, the Kanohi Vahi was knocked off of the Fire Toa's face, and he collapsed to the ground.

Kit was by his side as he sat up and he was rather surprised to find her there. "Kit? How did you get up here?"

"Would you believe I flew?" she answered, gesturing at her rocket pack.

"The Kanohi Vahi!" Vakama realized, and they saw it fall off the edge. Makuta took off and dove after it, and Kit would've too if the Toa of Fire hadn't called Lhikan's name, bringing her attention back to the Turaga.

He was just laying there, bolts of residual energy dancing all along his body. "That was meant for me," Vakama protested as he and the girl knelt down.

Lhikan, however, denied it and said weakly, "This is _my_ lifetime's journey. Yours lies beyond." He pointed to the Great Barrier, indicating that Vakama and the others were meant to go through. "Trust your visions," he continued. "I am proud to have called the _both_ of you brother and friend, Toa Vakama and Kit." He, amazingly, removed his mask, which Vakama accepted and, as the fallen Turaga breathed harsh breaths, the three of them put their fists together, and he placed his hand on top of theirs, letting them rest on his chest. His heartlight's flashing became slower and slower until it burnt out completely, and his hand went limp.

Vakama closed his eyes for a moment, and looked on sadly at the one whom he had admired all of his life and whose captivity and, now, death he felt responsible for, and he and Kit got to their feet. Hearing the young human making some strange sounds, he looked to find Kit with her head down and her hair obscuring his view of her face. As if feeling his gaze on her, she looked up at him and revealed a tear streaked expression. Before the Fire Toa could ask her about the water leaking from her eyes, to his momentary surprise, she embraced him in a hug and buried her face in his stomach. Without thinking, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gently patted her head, then he closed his eyes and carefully squeezed his grip on Kit's shoulder and head. "Vakama, where are you?" he heard Kit ask, and was, at first, confused. Then, when he opened his eyes, he realized he couldn't see himself, not even his hand in front of his face.

"My mask power," he understood and, remembering something, he took off, leaving a confused Kit behind.

Hoping her scope had an infrared feature, or something that would enable her to figure out where the Toa of Fire ran, she activated it. A warm colored figure, Vakama, immediately appeared on the screen and she raced after him—toward Makuta. "At last," the dark one mused to himself as he held the Vahi. Vakama, however, had other ideas, and launched a disk that struck the mask out of Makuta's hands and into the sea far below. Makuta roared in frustration, "Without the Mask of Time, it will take a lifetime's journey to find both our destinies. Only yours will be brief."

He shot out the giant hand at the Toa and girl, who dodged it, and instead Makuta absorbed a piece of rock. "Kit, find cover," Vakama directed.

The girl wanted to protest, but, upon the Fire Toa's insistence, she reluctantly complied and ducked behind some rocks as she turned off her suit. She watched as Vakama's mask glowed and he disappeared, 'Invisibility, of course.' Soon after, the invisible Toa starting knocking on rocks and calling to Makuta every now and then, making the behemoth play a little game of cat and mouse. At one point, he roared so loud, not only did the other Toa on the shore down below hear him, but Kit actually thought that the very sky itself would crack as she covered her ears. Finally, Vakama stopped to catch his breath, which turned out to be a big mistake.

Makuta's ears caught the sound and he leered toward the rock where the Toa was hiding. "I know where you are," he informed Vakama. The red Toa just knew he was in for it now, especially if he couldn't get his breathing to slow down, but even if he could it was too late. Makuta was slowly, but surely, heading right for him.

Fortunately for him, Kit knew what to do. Keeping her eyes on Makuta, she reached down, grabbed a rock, and tossed it at a rock behind the giant, where it made a loud crack. Makuta instantly responded by releasing the hand again. Seeing his chance, and saying a silent thank you to the girl, Vakama leaped over the gap between his pillar and the next, calling out to Makuta as he did. Hearing the voice, Makuta went after him, and Kit followed. Once she got to the edge, she judged the distance and decided there was no way in the world she could make that jump.

'But I do know of another way,' she said to herself, and was about to summon her suit again when she felt a powerful arm wrap around her waist and she was carried into the air.

When she was back on solid ground a minute later, she glanced up to find it was Onewa. But, it wasn't just Onewa; the entire team was there. Ahead of them, they saw Vakama dodge Makuta's attack at the last possible moment, and he grabbed the pillar of stone instead. Makuta suddenly looked a little worried; unable to make the hand let go, there was nothing to do but draw it in. Unfortunately, the pillar was far too large for him to absorb. With a shout, the stone slammed him into the wall of the Great Barrier behind him with a crash. Kit winced and watched as the rock crumbled away, revealing a little battered looking Makuta, held in place by the dent his body made in the wall.

"Now that's _really_ gotta hurt," Kit remarked.

"Oh yeah," the Toa of Stone agreed.

Vakama, still unaware of his friends' presence, approached Makuta, who looked at him with some defiance still in his eyes. "If Toa Lhikan could not defeat me alone, how could you?"

"Because he's not alone," Nokama answered as she, the Toa, and Kit joined the Toa of Fire.

With a simultaneous cry of "Unity!", the Toa Metru placed their fists in a semicircle while Kit watched from behind; this was to be the Toa's victory, and theirs alone.

A wind swirled her hair into her face as well as a white mist that seemed to appear from nowhere. As she shielded her vision from her hair, she could feel the force of all of the elements merging together. It was exhilarating and overwhelming at the same time. The Toa Metru's elemental energies flowed together to form a beam of energy, pure and white. Despite his best efforts, Makuta could not escape from the bolt of energy that pinned him to the wall. A clear and hardened substance started to encase his body until he couldn't move anymore and his eyes went dark. When the Toa were done, Kit joined them and let out a whistle when she found Makuta in a cage of solid protodermis. The Toa, glad that it was finally over, sighed in relief. Vakama spotted a bright light in the sky and they all looked up. At first it was one spirit star, then it separated into multiple ones, each a different color. "Six spirit stars" said Kit, and the celestial lights placed themselves into the sky in a pattern, forming a constellation.

"The Great Spirit proclaims it," said Nuju. "We are Toa!"

The group whooped and cheered. They had proven themselves worthy Toa at long last. More than that, they were all now the heroes of Metru Nui.

* * *

Later, the new Toa carried some Matoran spheres through a tunnel on a stretch of land. Vakama was the only one who looked back at what remained of his proud city, a slight look of longing in his eyes. "Vakama," said Kit, "we have to go; it's not safe for them there anymore."

"I know," the Fire Toa nodded and smiled. And, the two of them followed the others.

As she walked, Kit wondered about one more thing—where had she seen that constellation of six stars before? For some reason, it looked so familiar. Then, in her mind, she was in a fair-sized and decent looking house. She walked toward a doorway, the door opened, and in came a woman who was a little taller than her, wore glasses, and had short brown hair. The woman was smiling and spread out her arms, as if preparing a hug. Then, just like that, the scene ended. Kit was dumbfounded; she deeply felt like that she should know the woman and the house, but she couldn't figure out why. Deciding to worry about it later, she moved to catch up to the Toa. Yet, she couldn't help but ask herself, 'Was that one of my lost memories?'

* * *

He laid perfectly still on the ground in the darkness of the shadows. Slowly, tiredly, he opened his eyes a bit. How long had he been lying there? Hours? Days? He didn't know, for he had lost track of time sometime ago. His drowsy mind recalled what forced him to do this, despite the fact he wanted to get on with his plan right away. He came here hoping to change the past so that the future could be altered to his liking. However, regardless of his power and ability, the means to accomplish the task of getting here was very tricky. Thankfully, he managed to pull it off, in spite of some annoying resistance, and the next thing he knew he was here. However, the task drained a great deal of his power, and his wounds needed tending. And so, he decided the best course of action, and pretty much the only choice he had, was to let himself rest and regain his strength. Thinking of how he would carry on with his plan once he was fully recovered, his lips curved into a wicked smile. Finally, he closed his eyes and his mind drifted off to subconscious thoughts of chaos and destruction.

* * *

A dark figure looked down on the Bionicle world with intrigue. He had searched for the right target for so long, and, true, there were many to choose from, but something about this particular reality caught his eye, seemingly ripe with potential. "Yes, this one ought to do just nicely," he said to himself. His mind made up, he shimmered out and reappeared in a hidden cavern on the planet. Walking toward a ledge, he looked around, a slight breeze rustling his cape, and decided that this spot would serve just fine as a temporary base in this world. The so called 'heroes' of this world, the Toa Metru, whose deeds he was quite familiar with from his observing, didn't worry him in the least; he could take care of them easily, and he intended to. With that thought in mind, he started chuckling, then began to laugh. Soon, he thought, every creature great and small, good or evil would fall before his unequaled power. This entire world would soon be at his mercy and learn and remember his name with ultimate fear before it faded away into oblivion—Darcius.


End file.
